Airfix 1/72 DH Mosquito J30 (Swedish) [FINISHED]

[klr]

This is a 1990s revision of the old 1973 kit.

 

The extra parts on the white sprue are for the "bull nose" and the four-bladed propellers and spinners fitted to the J30.

 

 

I had already built the original kit twice, but both times "wheels up". So I probably hadn't noticed this design flaw before on the outer port nacelle. The attachment point for the main undercarriage leg is molded out instead of in:

 

The kit errs in providing for the underwing rockets to be mounted as well either the drop tanks or bombs. Even though Airfix should surely have known that was wrong when this revised kit was issued, they didn't correct this, and the instructions for the RAF NF.XIX version makes the same mistake as in the 1973 instructions. In reality, a special ops night fighter/intruder would have been very unlikely to carry rockets. But I digress. Had I wanted to fit the drop tanks to the J30 I was building, I'd probably have had to move them outboard a bit. But I didn't see any photo of the J30 with drop tanks.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by klr

[klr]

There's not much to the cockpit compared to newer Mosquito kits (Tamiya, Airfix B.XVI), but not much would be visible under that thick canopy anyway:

 

The "bull nose" was not a great fit, but I persevered ...

 

The fuselage join is generally good, but with some imperfections, including some depressions in the lower rear fuselage that seem to originate with the mold itself. I expended a good deal of elbow grease here to clean things up.

 

The new propellers and spinners were also mediocre fits ... you'd think that tooling 2-part sub-assemblies should have been child's play, but not so.

 

[klr]

My approach to the undercarriage was to delay fitting it for as long as possible, so I attached just the inboard nacelles to the lower wings to begin with.

 

This allowed me to complete the basic airframe quickly. The outer edges of the nacelle halves were an ideal visual guide for setting the wing incidence, as these had to be absolutely vertical:

 

 

 

 

The assembled propellers/spinners were a snug fit to the nacelles. I fitted the shrouded exhausts. As I recall, there are pictures of J30s with shrouded and unshrouded exhausts.

 

As well as incorrect nacelle attachment point I mentioned earlier, the rear leg attachment points are not quite back far enough. Also, the "X" parts linking the main legs appear to be slightly too wide. I fitted the inboard legs to the their nacelles first, then completed the undercarriage assemblies, then fitted the outboard nacelles "over" these, working everything into place. The next time I build this kit (either the original 1973 kit or this version), I will follow this general approach. And build it again I will, as I have several more in the stash.

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by klr

[klr]

I ignored the suggested Hu 64 and Hu 30 camouflage colours, and used Hu 165 (with matt varnish) and Hu 116 instead. The spinners were painted Hu 14 as per instructions, but I gave these a matt varnish, as photos of the J30 didn't seem to show a glossy finish on any spinners.

 

The only modification I made was to add the wing tip dipole aerials, although I should probably have done this before I started painting:

 

I'll take more pictures of the completed kit tomorrow, when the lighting conditions are better.

 

[arfa1983]

Never seen a Swedish mosquito before! That looks awesome 

[helios16v]

That went together right quick.  

[klr]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:10 PM, helios16v said:

That went together right quick.  

Well, actually no: I started it a couple of weeks before Christmas, but then didn't resume it until the end of December. Long story ... I had it "almost" finished for the gallery deadline, but the dipole radar aerials needed some more attention. Anyway, as promised, here are some more pics:

 

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

That has come up rather well. I do still like a well built 2nd gen Airfix Mosquito & this is surely one of those. I built one of these several years ago for a De Havilland GB, it took very little modification to the U/C & mounts to be able to slip them in & out at will, but your method seems to have worked rather well too. 👍

Steve.